Burning Issues: Keep The Terror Threat In Context

April 7, 2016

Burning Issues Video

While most of the presidential candidates compete to present themselves as the toughest on terrorism and the threat from ISIS, Paul Pillar, a former U.S. intelligence official and author who now writes at The National Interest, cautions in this installment of the Burning Issues video series against overreacting to ISIS – and against reacting without a long-term plan for addressing the effects of an intervention.

Pillar, who has just authored a new book, “How America Misunderstands the World,” warns that some of the plans for military intervention against ISIS could well do little more than breed more extremists. He raises a key concern about Hillary Clinton’s support of a “no-fly zone” in the area of the conflict in Syria as well as concerns about the positions of the Republican candidates.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership threatens to undermine the real progress the United States and the world is poised to make on addressing climate change, says Ilana Solomon of the Sierra Club in this Burning Issues video.

A dramatic shift in foreign aid spending to the Defense Department has created significant risks for U.S. diplomacy and peacemaking, says Colby Goodman of the Center for International Policy in this Burning Issues video.